It is speculated perhaps the people who interperted the Mayan Calender was juts off by 200 years

Simmering tensions on Earth escalate into outright hostilities and warfare.

The TITANs evolve from a high-level distributed netwar experiment into self-improving seed AIs. For the first few days, their existence is unsuspected. They advance their awareness, knowledge, and power exponentially, infiltrating the mesh both on Earth and around the system.

Large-scale netwar incursions break out between rival states on Earth, sparking numerous conflicts. These attacks are later blamed on the TITANs.

Massive netwar ensues and major systems crash as TITANs begin open attacks and wage war with autonomous machines.

Conflict quickly spirals out of control. The use of nuclear, biological, chemical, digital, and nanotech weapons reported by all sides.

A wormhole gateway is discovered on Saturn’s moon Pandora, presumably left by the TITANs. Four others are later found (in the Vulcanoids, on Mars, on a moon of Uranus, and in the Kuiper Belt); these are collectively referred to as “Pandora gates.”

First contact with the aliens known as the Factors shocks the system. Claiming to act as ambassadors for other alien civilizations, they provide little information about life outside the solar system and warn transhumans away from both seed AI and the Pandora gates.

An attempt to raise a generation of children using force-grown clones and time-accelerated VR fails miserably when most die or go insane. Dubbed the Lost Generation, the survivors are viewed with repugnance and pity.

After 8 Suicide attempts Brendo's muse finally completed the behavior modification on Brendo's EGO and successfully reconciled his ego with his current status as transhuman survivor from over 200 years ago.

After 2 self-destructions James's Muse managed to convince James he is not undergoing a psychotic episode and reconciled his ego with his current status as transhuman survivor from nearly 200 years go.

The 2 were given their inheritance (just why the government would include their grave goods from their legal burial with their cryogentically stored stolen brains on black budget research project is a logical hole that were edited out of their memories).

James immediately destroyed his Brain to eliminate any possible corporate control over his consciousness (however feeble an attempt it may be)

Brendo kept his Brain for future use.

James decided to sell his (now) antique jade bracelet to purchase his Morph, he later put the only surviving collector's edition of Count of Monte Cristo (Mint Condition) at a collateral value of 500,000 credits (worth far more), for the loan for the spaceship.

Brendo decided to sell both his grave goods and David's gift of collector's edition of Lord of the Rings Series for his Designer Deus Model Ghost Morph and a sum of 250,000 credits.

Brendo had few month of extra time to study the new world in the Corporate Suites and to adjust to his new Morph as they waited for James' custom morph based on his own genetic code to be Cloned and fast grown.

When James' morph was finished and he became accustomed to its use, the two friends were put on a transport to Mars Station

[Start of Pre-Start Session 01]

Brendo and James waited "2 days" for their Morph to be ready.

the morphs it took ~2 years to finish

James and Brendo's EGO was deactivated/backed up that period while their Custom Morphs was fast grown.

Spoiler: It is unknown if Joan engaged in further self-modification by experimenting on Brendo's Ego during this 2 years. All she had to do to keep Brendo oblivious was to sleeved his original backup.

Starting time is now fudged to be around AF08, so the time that Brendo and James entered Eclipse Phase society is still AF 10.

The Sleeve process gave Brendo no issues, but Joan in an attempt to boost Brendo's ego tried to sabotage James's Intergration process. Her meddeling however revealed a design flaw in James' custom morph and set it into into System Shutdown. It took the AGI Lab 3 hours to stabilize James's morph and for him to fully integrate into his new body.

Their Alienation check went smoothly, both have no issue with the mental adaptation of their new image and body.

Brendo inquired and was informed that the Company will temporarily safe keep his Organic Brain. However, he needs to transfer it within 10 years time. There will be no guarantees beyond the deadline.

Both PCs gained the impression it is not a good idea to press this deadline. Especially consider the irreplaceable nature of the object in discussion.

They were sent on a Personal Shuttle to Lunar-Jovian Hyper Lane Station 62234 LEFH (L=Lodging, E=Entertainment, F=Real Food, H=Connection Hub)

Shortly after dropping them off the Shuttle exploded at a safe distance, erasing yet another link the PCs had to their mysterious benefactor.

Brendo and James talked about their plans for the future and settled on the idea to see the known universe - which means they need a ship. James suggested they name their ship after David, for he is who made it possible. Eventually they settled on the name "The Alexander".

With a layover of 24 [Earth]Hours at the station, Brendo and James decided to check out the sights - gawking like tourists every step of the way.

James started to record everything to his Cortical Stack.

Brendo started his life blog.

In no time they arrived at the Red Light District and Brendo with vast wealth in his Bank account decided to sample the oldest profession in the world.

He Yelp the hell out of the various seething clubs and settled on a 3.5 Star Establishment with a Ultra-Groupon Discount.

In 4 hours he spent 10,000 Credits - and his blown mind would take days to recover.

James however still strict in his ways sat this one out. He was evicted from the club, gently but firmly, when he inquired to the many ladies surrounding him how was their work condition, if they liked working there, and whether they were unionized.

As the station internal sky turned to night, the Faux-Naturelle™ Weather system decided on a heavy rain. Pedestrians quickly scattered and the promenade is soon near empty. Staying within VPN distance, just in case Brendo needs help, James found a dry spot to wait.

As he was taking in the sights, he noticed a young street walker walking stiffly and just general doesn't seem alright. James engaged her and after hearing her story decided to use their credits for something greater than physical gratification. He haggled with her handler and arranged a transfer of 12,000 Credits for her freedom. her indenture contract was transferred to James and subsequently nullified. With no one to take care of her on the station, he decided to take her to Mars with him.

After James exchanged his business class ticket for 2 economic class ones, he took Min Mei shoping for some basic supplies for the trip.

Beyond gracious the young woman tried pay in the only way she knows. Both Brendo and James refused. Instead James simply asked her to pay forwards. To help someone else in the future when she is able.

This unconditional kindness is so alien to her experience that Ming Mei does not know how to handle it. She now clings to James as a drowning person clings to a life saver and tries her be useful as possible.

[End of Pre-Start Session 01]

[Start of Pre-Start Session 02]

The 3 Boarded the luxury liner without incident. James and Ling Min Mei (林明美) went to their Coach Cabins and Brendo went to the VIP Line and the First Class Section.

On the Third Day Brendo literally ran into a hysterical women who was terribly beaten. In between sobs Brendo discovered (with a 00 Failure) that the woman is the heiress of a martial mining venture. She is in the midest of a Rare Expensium-13 Mine dispute on Mars against criminals. The Criminals have resorted to physical assault to stop her from gathering the 25,000 Credits she needs to reacquire the operation permits from the Martial Government. With every friend and associate too afraid to help her she have been unsuccessful. Only 3 days remain before the Criminals can legally take the mine. She doesn't know what to do.

Completely moved by her story, and against Joan's advise, Brendo immediately arranged Escrow for 25,000 Credits and the ecstatic woman ran to the Tachyon Communication Nexus to sent a message to her lawyers on Mars.

After half an hour without her leaving the Communication Room Brendo feared for the worse and used N-Ray to see inside and found her missing. After running into several difficult situations, Brendo eventually tracked her down to a make shift hide-out in the Air Recclimation Systems.

Want to save her, Brendo pretended he is her by wearing her cloth and set himself as bait. The woman arrived first and Brendo immediately advised her to hide in his Suite on the Ship while he waits as bait to the trap. She hesitantly agreed and quicly disappeared into the maze of crawl spaces and gas ducts.

Unknown to Brendo is that the Woman is nothing more than a small time con-artist, one that was long ago discovered by Joan. Joan however wishing to enable Brendo's sense of humanity have let this ruse slide. She even fooled a known criminal on the ship into believing he is being black mailed by someone and set the meeting place at the Hide out.

Furious the Criminal did the expected thing and came armed to kill the Blackmailer. Thus this misunderstanding is further by Joan's machinations.

Hiding behind his Camo-Cloak Brendo sprung the trap and shot the criminal at point black range and the fight is on. A second burst took the criminal to his knees.

[End of Pre-Start Session 02]

[Start of Post Pre-Start Session 02]

Not wanting to murder the criminal, Brendo left him close to the medical bay, assured that the proper authorities will deal with this criminal once he was discovered.

Shortly there after word arrived that with there plots foiled, the criminals decided to destroy the mine rather then let anyone have it. The explosion, causing a change reaction which converted the expensium into worthless commonite. Unfortunately for the criminals, they were unaware of the trace amounts of explosium in the mine, and ended up killing themselves along with the mine.

With the criminals no longer a threat to her, the Heiress's associates, friends and personal funds become available to her, no longer requiring any assistance or funds from Brendo. The 2 remain friends during the rest of the weeks voyage.

The Heiress partied ways at Mars that she is going off to get married, and what they shared will always be special to her.

After about a month of travel, Brendo and James arrived in Mars space onboard a Qutar Luxury Liner, QC926, operated by Pan Solar Universal Spaceways (more commonly referred to as Pan Sol).

Following Goddess' suggestions, Brendo and James hired some bodyguards for safety sake.

Then they tried to inquired on how to purchase a ship. Unfortunately without sponsorship (e.g high-rep or astronomical creds) they were told that it would be difficult (read impossible) for them to get the license required to operate space craft.

They started to work odds and end jobs in the mean time trying to find a way.

A barfight/mugging attempt [Need to be role-played still so we know how Combat works in the game system] landed the two into the crosshair of a body snatcher gang.

A kidnapper group cornered the two in their hotel room and disabled their morphs - with the goal of selling their infomorph into slavery and selling their l33t designer morphs on the black market.

During the Morph profile process the DNA sequence of the Morph triggered a secret signal.

Within 11 minutes the kidnappers are subdued by Triad enforcers and the stolen "property" of Xiong Chan (熊強) was recovered.

It didn't take long for the whole misunderstanding to sort itself out. James realized he is not as rootless as he thought. Even in this brave new dystopia he still have blood relations. Xiong Chan realized his great great great great great great grand uncle has returned from the dead.

Triad tradition is all about family and Xiong Chan offered his elder the chance to join the Triad as part of his outfit.

The two refused and remains as independent agent - though often handling Triad business.

Xiong Chan however was kind enough to use his considerable pull to get Brendo and James a business license as Freight Carrier, and even gotten them the inside track on the Bidding for the newest model transport that is released this year.

With James putting the only survivor of the Before Fall Printed Media of Count of Monte Cristo up as collateral they managed to gain a 0% APR on an 100 year loan - cosigned by one of Xiong Chan's shell corporations to make sure the bank stay honest.

In exchange for this favor however, James is "asked" to take a recently arrived socialite on a 1 day tour of the Mars resort. Little does James know that the socialite is the daughter of the head of a rival Triad Sect and a Singularity in her own right.